JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) Chief Risk Officer John Hogan, whose tenure included the bank’s worst-ever trading loss, will take a temporary leave for personal reasons beginning later this month, he said in a memo to staff.

“I’m looking forward to taking this time off to spend with my family and friends,” Hogan wrote in a memo obtained yesterday. Deputy Risk Officer Ashley Bacon will fill in until Hogan returns this summer, he said. Hogan discussed his plans with top managers including Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon, he said.

Hogan, previously chief risk officer for the investment bank, took his post a year ago, about three months before the New York-based company disclosed a large and illiquid trading position at the chief investment office. The holdings lost more than $6.2 billion in the first nine months of last year and JPMorgan’s market value dropped more than $50 billion in the weeks after the so-called London Whale episode become public.

The contents of the memo were confirmed by Joe Evangelisti, a spokesman for JP Morgan, which ranks first by assets among U.S. lenders. The stock gained 1.7 percent yesterday to $47.16 in New York.

The bank, in a 129-page internal report released Jan. 16, described an “error-prone” risk-modeling system in the CIO that required employees to cut and paste electronic data to a spreadsheet. Workers inadvertently used the sum of two numbers instead of the average in calculating volatility. The firm also reiterated that London traders tried to hide losses.

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You know that term…”Where there’s smoke, there’s fire”? Well, when it comes to the JPM London CIO office it’s more like…”Where there’s FIRE coming from every orifice, there’s a WEAPON OF MASS FINANCIAL DESTRUCTION going off”!

Now’s a good time to use the search function on the www.RoadtoRoota.com website and search for the term “CIO”. LOT’S AND LOT’S OF DIRT!